Articles Posted in Case Processing Times

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In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick discusses the process of applying for a green card via “consular processing” for individuals residing outside of the United States.  Additionally, in this video you will learn how long it is taking for an immigrant visa interview to be scheduled as of September 2024.

Please note that the green card application process will differ for individuals applying from inside the United States (this process is known as Adjustment of Status).

For the purposes of this video, we will focus solely on consular processing for applicants applying for their green card from outside the United States via a U.S. Consulate or Embassy overseas.

Steps Involved in Applying for a Green Card via Consular Processing

There are multiple steps involved when applying for a green card visa consular processing. To understand this process, here is an overview of what lies ahead:

Step 1: The first step to begin consular processing is for your qualifying relative to petition for your visa by submitting Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Step 2: After submitting the immigrant petition, it takes USCIS several months to approve the petition. The time it takes for this petition to be approved depends on several factors including the workload of the service center processing your petition and current USCIS backlogs.

Step 3: Once your petition is approved by USCIS, you must check the Department of State’s Visa Bulletin to see whether a green card is available for you based on your priority date as listed on your I-130, I-140, or I-360 approval notice. For PERM applications, the priority date is the date when the PERM was filed with the Department of Labor. Please note that immediate relatives of U.S. Citizens have a green card immediately available, and they do not need to wait in line. However, other green card applicants are subject to numerical quotas.

Step 4: Once your priority date is current on the Visa Bulletin, and a green card is available, USCIS will forward your petition to the National Visa Center (NVC) for further processing. It takes approximately 90 days for the NVC to receive your case from USCIS. The NVC is an intermediary between USCIS and the Department of State, responsible for preparing your application to be sent to the U.S. Consulate or Embassy abroad where you will be interviewed at the end of your application process.

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If you are currently going through the immigrant visa process and are waiting for your interview to be scheduled at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy overseas, then you won’t want to miss this important video. In this video attorney Jacob Sapochnick shares the latest updates regarding the operational capacity of U.S. Consular posts and Embassies worldwide as of June 2024.

Annual Numerical Limits – Visa Bulletin

Please note that certain categories of immigrants are subject to annual numerical limits which means that applicants must wait until an immigrant visa becomes available to them, before they can be scheduled for an immigrant visa interview at a Consulate overseas.

These include unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens, spouses and children of permanent residents, unmarried sons and daughters (21 years or older) of permanent residents, married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens, and brothers and sisters of adult U.S. Citizens.

Additionally, all employment-based immigrant visa categories are subject to annual numerical limits.

If any of the above-mentioned categories apply to you, you must check the Visa Bulletin every month to determine whether your priority date is current according to your preference category and country of nationality. Only once your priority date is current on the final action date chart of the Visa Bulletin, can your case be scheduled for a visa interview.

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Welcome back to ImmigrationLawyerBlog! In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick discusses a new rule from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that will provide relief to nearly 800,000 applicants seeking a renewal of their employment authorization document also known as a work permit by automatically extending certain EADs from 6 months to 18 months.

Overview

On April 4, 2020, USCIS announced a temporary final rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for employment authorization and EADs available to certain EAD renewal applicants from up to 180 days (6 months) to up to 540 days (or 18 months) from the printed expiration date of a previously issued EAD. 

Effective April 8, 2024, this temporary final rule will apply to two categories of EAD applicants:

(1) applicants who timely and properly filed their Form I-765 applications on or after October 27, 2023, if the application is still pending on April 8, 2024; and

(2) applicants who timely and properly file their Form I-765 application on or after April 8, 2024 and on or before September 30, 2025 (540 days after publication of this temporary final rule in the Federal Register).

Applicants must have one of these qualifying eligibility categories to receive an automatic extension of their employment authorization and/or EAD validity: A03, A05, A07, A08, A10, A12, A17*, A18*, C08, C09, C10, C16, C19, C20, C22, C24, C26*, and C31.  These eligibility categories are published on the USCIS Automatic EAD Extension webpage.

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Have you ever wondered why new immigration cases are being approved faster than older pending cases? If so, then you may be interested to learn why this is happening, as well as how the review process is conducted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and what you can do if you are facing this situation.

If you would like to know more about this topic, we invite you to watch our video.

Overview

Q: My case has been pending with USCIS for several months. I have recently learned that USCIS has been giving recently filed cases priority over older cases, why is that?

USCIS Review Process

To understand this issue, let’s first discuss how USCIS accepts and reviews cases once they are received by the agency.

After you submit your application including your forms and filing fees, the first thing USCIS will do is input the receipt of your application into their system and send a notice to you by mail confirming the date your materials were received and accepted as a complete filing. This receipt is known as the Notice of Action.

USCIS will create a new file and assign a case number to your application which will appear on your Notice of Action, which you can use to check the status of your application on the USCIS website and by telephone.

Your case will then be sorted and routed to the appropriate service center or field office that will oversee the evaluation of your application. The office that will be given jurisdiction over your case is determined by a number of factors including but not limited to, your case type, agency workloads, and the date of receipt.

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Do you have a visa that has been pending for an unreasonable period at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy abroad, or perhaps that has been stuck in administrative processing for years with no decision? If so, you may be interested to learn of possible solutions to resolve your case matter.

In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick tells you everything you need to know about this important topic, including a discussion about the writ of mandamus lawsuit, and how it can help compel a decision in certain cases where there has been an unreasonable delay.

If you would like to know more about this topic, we invite you to watch our video.

Overview

Mandamus Lawsuits for Immigration Delays

A mandamus lawsuit also known as a writ of mandamus, is filed in federal court to compel a government body to fulfill their legal duty, for instance by issuing a decision on a visa application or immigration benefit, that has been unreasonably delayed by the agency.

The purpose of the mandamus lawsuit is to hold the government accountable where they have failed to act, as required by U.S. immigration law, to make a decision on an application. In cases where the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or the Department of State (DOS) has failed to fulfill its duty, the mandamus lawsuit may be appropriate to help move a case forward to its final decision.

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In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick discusses a new press release shared by the Department of State which provides insights on the status of visa operations worldwide during fiscal year 2023. The report highlights that from October 2022 through September 2023, DOS issued more than 10 million visas worldwide, with half of U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world issuing more visas than ever before.

In this post, we provide a summary of the agency’s impressive achievements and visa statistics over the past fiscal year.

If you would like to know more about this topic, we invite you to watch our video.

Overview

According to the press release, the Department of State hit a near historic record, issuing more than 10.4 million nonimmigrant visas worldwide in fiscal year 2023.

Nearly 8 million visitor visas were issued for business and tourism – more than in any fiscal year since 2016.

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In this blog post, we discuss an important topic: can you apply for U.S. Citizenship if you are still waiting to receive a decision for a pending Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

We will discuss a client’s hypothetical case for you to consider under what circumstances it may be possible to apply for U.S. Citizenship with a pending I-751 petition.

Overview

As our readers may be aware, the Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence is subject to lengthy processing times, with 80 percent of cases receiving a decision within 20 to 30 months of filing, depending on the USCIS Field Office or Service Center that is processing the petition.

Due to these long wait times, back in January of 2023, USCIS announced that it would be extending the validity of Permanent Resident Cards (Green Cards) for applicants with a pending Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, or Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status for a period of 48 months (4 years) beyond the green card’s printed expiration date.

USCIS began implementing this change by providing a 48-month automatic extension on Notices of Action mailed to applicants beginning on January 11, 2023, for Form I-829 applicants, and on January 25, 2023, for Form I-751 applicants.

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In this blog post, we will discuss the top five ways that foreign investors can get a green card in the United States. This post will benefit potential investors or foreign nationals who want to maximize their chances of gaining permanent residence in the United States.

Overview

If you are a foreign investor or an entrepreneur there are essentially five ways to self-petition for permanent residence without the requirement of a job offer or employment sponsorship.

Option One: Green Card through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program

The first option is the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. This program allows qualifying investors to obtain conditional permanent residence through an EB-5 visa. To qualify, investors must make a capital investment of $800,000 (in a Targeted Employment Area Regional Center Project) or $1,050,000 (in a new commercial enterprise that you create or buy into – also known as direct EB-5 investments). You must also demonstrate that the capital you are investing comes from a lawful source, and that your investment will create at least 10 new jobs for U.S. workers. Additionally, your capital investment must be committed to the project for at least five to seven years.

Once an investor’s EB-5 petition has been approved, he or she will receive a 2-year conditional green card. Before the expiration of the green card, the investor must remove the conditions on his permanent resident status by filing an I-829 petition with USCIS. When removing the conditions on permanent residence, investors must prove that they made the required investment and that all EB-5 requirements were satisfied such as job creation.

Once USCIS approves the I-829 petition, the applicant’s residency status is no longer conditional and the investor will be issued a 10 year green card.

EB-5 Direct Investments

EB-5 direct investments are those where the capital is invested in a new commercial enterprise such as a franchise operation, hotel real estate development projects, large restaurants, IT projects, retail chain operations, and large construction projects.

One of the most important components of the EB-5 application process is that you must be prepared to demonstrate the source/origin of your investment funds through documentary evidence. In other words, your investment funds must be traceable to their originating source.

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In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick provides a brand-new update regarding the current Immigrant Visa backlogs for those currently going through Consular processing (waiting for an interview at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate overseas), as well as those with cases at the National Visa Center.

What you need to know is that from the period of June to July 2023, there has been nearly no movement in the Immigrant Visa backlog. At the same time, there has been a decrease in the number of people who were actually scheduled for Immigrant Visa interviews at U.S. Consulates and Embassies overseas from June to July as indicated in the figures below.

Therefore, while the backlog remains the same, more and more people are being scheduled for visa interviews.

If you want to know what you can expect moving forward, please keep on watching.

Did you Know? Every month the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC) publishes an Immigrant Visa Backlog report, which provides data and statistics relating to the current status of worldwide visa operations, including the number of documentarily complete immigrant visa cases currently at the National Visa Center waiting for interviews, the number of cases that were scheduled for interviews at the end of each month, and the number of immigrant visa cases still waiting to be scheduled for a visa interview after interview appointment scheduling was completed at the end of each month

Overview

According to the National Visa Center’s Immigrant Visa Backlog Report for the month of July 2023, there has been a very modest increase in the immigrant visa (IV) backlog rising from 351,337 pending cases in June to 351,821 pending cases in July.

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In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick answers one of your most frequently asked questions: how long is it currently taking for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to adjudicate marriage-based adjustment of status applications (green cards) in May of 2023?

If you would like to know the answer to this question, please keep on watching!

Did You Know? USCIS processing times vary depending on the workload of the Field Office and/or Service Center where the I-130/485 applications are being adjudicated. USCIS reports the processing times of each Field Office and Service Center directly on its website, including time estimates of how long it took the agency to process 80% of adjudicated cases over the past 6 months. However, USCIS cautions that each case is unique, and some cases may take longer than others to be adjudicated. Due to this, processing times should be used as a reference point, not an absolute measure of how long your case will take to be completed.

Additionally, remember to consider the processing time of your local USCIS Field Office, where you will eventually be called to appear for an in-person interview before an immigration officer to prove that you have a bona fide marriage, and meet all other requirements for a green card.

Overview

Service Centers Processing Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative

There are currently six different Service Centers that process the Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. These include:

  • California Service Center (CSC)
  • Nebraska Service Center (NSC)
  • Potomac Service Center (PSC)
  • Texas Service Center (TSC)
  • Vermont Service Center (VSC)
  • National Benefits Center (NBC)

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